Friday, August 15, 2014

So I've been scouring Craigslist and the Sunday classifieds for a river sled. I was in the market for a very used, very cheap, fixer-upper type of water craft. Well, I found it.

Boom- A 1979 Shawnee. 15 feet 11 inches of pure trout fishing excellence. Sure the paint is peeling and the fiberglass is showing through in spots... and of course the prop on the 1988 Yamaha looks like it took anti-aircraft fire... but hey- it floats (I think).

I've got plans for this old girl. So far everything is in working order- more or less. The trailer pulls, bearing look ok, the motor fires up and shift gears and the hull appears to be in decent shape.

Plans include filling in the gouges and nicks, repainting everything including the trailer, new prop, and a trolling motor or oars (can't decide). I also want to plug up the drain holes in the live well so I can use it for dry storage- I rarely keep fish anyway. By the way I have no idea what I am doing- this is my first boat and I am an idiot.

I am fairly sure the motor and probably the boat were rentals at some point. None of the numbers on the motor match and it has a "6" on the bottom and a "3" on the cowl. The motor is a 9.9 Yamaha with a 15 carb (or so the guy said). The skeg is almost ground completely smooth- which may be a problem. I changed out the lower unit oil and it looked ok as far as I know. Overall I am pretty pumped. Updates to be issued as events warrant.